Making History Audible: Teaching Argument and Evidence Through Podcasting

This presentation introduces the “Premodern Pastimes” Podcast Project, a scaffolded alternative to the traditional research essay in an undergraduate history course on fun and leisure in premodern Europe. Replacing a final paper, the project guides students through the process of historical inquiry while asking them to translate original research into a 15-minute podcast episode designed to engage and educate a broad audience.

The assignment unfolds in structured stages: a proposal and episode outline integrating assigned and independently researched primary sources; a 2,000-word script functioning as a fully developed research paper in narrative form; an in-class peer-review workshop; a recorded episode produced in the campus podcast studio; and a final reflective essay analyzing the research and storytelling process. Throughout this project, students practice source analysis, historiographical engagement, citation, revision, and argumentative clarity.

By requiring students to narrate evidence aloud, the project sharpens organization, audience awareness, and precision in ways that in turn deepens their writing skills. At the same time, it builds digital literacy through hands-on production in the Hollins University podcast studio and encourages students to practice communicating arguments of historical significance to broader audiences. This presentation will briefly outline the project’s scaffolded design and assessment strategies as a transferable model for maintaining scholarly rigor while expanding modes of historical storytelling.